


Trust Me

by flowerfan



Category: Glee
Genre: 5x20 reaction fic, discussion of sexual harassment/assault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-15
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-24 23:26:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1620803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerfan/pseuds/flowerfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5x20 reaction fic.  Sam is upset when Mercedes leaves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust Me

Sam poked his head into Blaine’s bedroom. Seeing that Blaine was still packing – carefully folding a stack of polo shirts and placing them one by one into a suitcase – Sam refrained from asking him to come watch tv with him, and just sat down quietly on Blaine’s bed. Blaine looked up and smiled at Sam. “Hey. Mercedes and Brittany get off okay?”

Sam nodded. He was feeling sort of empty after seeing Mercedes go and didn't really have anything to say, but he figured hanging out with Blaine was better than sitting downstairs by himself. Watching _The Facts of Life_ wasn't going to be the same without Mercedes there.

Blaine stopped packing and came over to sit next to Sam on the bed. "You okay, buddy?"

Sam shrugged. He didn't feel okay, but he didn't think there was much to be done about it.

Blaine pulled a knee up on the bed and turned to face Sam. "It’s got to be hard, saying goodbye to Mercedes. I know how much you care about her."

"Not enough, though," Sam said. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" Blaine asked.

"If I cared enough I wouldn't have screwed it up. I wasn't good enough for her. Fact - I'm not good enough for anyone." 

Blaine's eyes got wide and his eyebrows squished down. "Sam, don't think like that. Mercedes loves you."

"Then why'd she break up with me?" Sam stood up and started pacing back and forth. "It's because I cheated. She thinks I'll just do it again, and she's probably right. I'm useless."

"You didn't cheat, Sam. What happened wasn't your fault," Blaine said firmly.

Sam didn't believe this for a minute. "Of course that's what you'd say, you're a cheater too. Bet you think Eli wasn't your fault either." Sam saw Blaine's face go pale, and instantly regretted his words. He opened his mouth to apologize but nothing came out.

Blaine took a deep breath and stood, blocking Sam's pacing, and gently put a hand on his shoulder. "Sam, look at me." Sam complied, surprised at the determined look on Blaine's face. "What I did **was** my fault. That was cheating. But what happened to you was totally different."

"I don't see how. I have - I mean I had - a girlfriend, and I kissed someone that wasn’t my girlfriend. That's cheating."

Blaine pulled at Sam's arm until they were both sitting down on the bed again. "You need to listen to me, Sam. You didn't cheat. That photographer took advantage of you. She was in a position of power over you, and she used it to get you to do something you didn't want to do."

Sam looked at Blaine in disbelief, but he seemed serious. "Come on, dude, I'm way stronger than that girl. She didn't force me. I just stood there and let her do it. I could have stopped her, and I didn't."

Blaine bit his lip and scooted closer to Sam. "I'm not talking about physical power. She had the power to take the job away from you, deny you your dream of getting the ad campaign and your photo on all the buses in New York. She was the one with the power."

This was true. And Sam had told her that he really wanted the job, and that he was scared he wouldn't get it if he couldn't do what she wanted. 

"Didn't you say you told her that you weren't interested?" Blaine prodded.

"I told her I had a girlfriend, and she didn't care. She just kept on pushing me, saying no one would know."

"This wasn't your fault, Sam. You can't go on feeling guilty about this."

"But I am guilty. I could have stopped her, or moved away, at least, or been more clear about saying no."

"Sam," Blaine's voice was calm, "what she did was sexual harassment. She was basically telling you that if you didn't do what she wanted you to do - sexually - that you wouldn't get the job. You were clear about not wanting to kiss her - she just didn't care. She knew her overtures were unwelcome, and she continued. It's textbook harassment. It's assault, too."

Sam's throat felt tight, and he wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere that wasn't this awful, noisy, miserable city. He buried his face in his hands and tried not to cry. He didn't know how Blaine could stand it here. Maybe it was because he had Kurt. But now Sam didn't even have Mercedes. He felt Blaine's hand on his back, gently squeezing his shoulder. Sam turned his head and looked out at Blaine from between his fingers. He wanted to believe Blaine. He felt so awful about what happened – even right as it was happening. It hadn’t felt right at all. "You really think it wasn't my fault?"

"I know it wasn't your fault." Blaine sounded so certain. "Trust me on this, Sam. It wasn't."

Sam took a deep breath and sat up. "You are pretty smart about this kind of thing," he said. It was true, this seemed like exactly the kind of thing Blaine would understand. Maybe Charlie Darling was just another kind of bully, and Sam was just her victim.

"I am," Blaine replied, smiling at him. "So... Any chance you'd reconsider leaving? I thought being a male model was your dream? You shouldn’t have to give that up just because of one bad experience."

Sam sighed. "No, I still want to leave. I kind of hate it here," he admitted. "There are just too many people here, and I think it makes them mean. What she did just seals the deal."

"But Sam, we can figure this out. You don't have to work with her again, you know. We can tell your agent..." Sam knew Blaine meant well, but he'd never get a modeling job again if he complained. 

"I've never really felt right here, you know that. And I don't think modeling is good for me." He could see from Blaine's face that he agreed with that. 

"You don't have to be a model, Sam. You can still go to college, find something else you'd like to do. I can help you look into it. You could be a teacher, or a musician, or a video game designer. You can do anything, Sam."

Blaine's enthusiasm made Sam smile, but at the same time it made him sad. He had been trying not to think about saying goodbye to Blaine, but he couldn't avoid it forever. "I know you'd help me, dude, and you'd probably come up with an awesome solution. But I have to leave. I just need to go home for a while, figure things out." 

Blaine's face fell, as Sam knew it would. "I'm gonna miss you, Sam," he said softly.

"I know. I'm gonna miss you too." A lot, Sam thought. I’m going to miss you a lot.

"Hey, Sam?" Blaine said, bumping his shoulder against Sam's. "We'll always be friends. No matter where we are."

"Look how well that worked with Tina."

"Come on, we talk to Tina all the time. And whenever we get together, even if it's not as often as we'd like, it's always as if we were never apart. Right?"

"I guess."

"Sam, look at me." Sam reluctantly met Blaine's eyes. "Our friendship means the world to me,” Blaine said seriously. “I've never had a friend like you before, and I don't think I ever will again. I'm not giving you up."

"You have Kurt," Sam said stubbornly.

"That's not the same, and you know it. Anyway, we're Blam, and we always will be." Blaine paused and tilted his head at Sam, with that confident, I've got a plan and it's going to work look on his face, like when he suggested they take over Glee and do Guilty Pleasures week. Man, Sam had worn the shortest shorts ever just to make this guy happy. Why did this have to be so hard? But Blaine continued, determined to cheer Sam up. "We'll always be friends. Trust me on this one, too, okay?"

"Okay," Sam agreed. It was impossible to argue with Blaine when he was like this. And as they hugged it out, Sam let himself hope that Blaine was right. Maybe Sam would never come back to New York, and maybe Blaine would never move back to Lima, but there might be a Blam future out there somewhere. He'd just have to trust him.


End file.
